


The Outsiders

by Vintage (sour_gummies)



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: F/M, Families of Choice, Friendship/Love, Gen, H.I.V.E. Academy, H.I.V.E. Five, Multi, New Teen Titans - Freeform, Other, villain-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 04:31:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sour_gummies/pseuds/Vintage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years after the events of "Titans Together," the expansion of the New Teen Titans into a global force has created big changes for bad guys everywhere. The former H.I.V.E. students—including Jinx, defected from the Titans within a year—are back to a life of crime, but said life is harder now than ever before. </p><p>A geokinetic youth named Geo-Force wakes up in Jump City without any memories, and finds himself caught up in the group, rekindling some long-buried instinct for protection. The Outsiders insist all the way that they don't need his help, but they're not in much of a position to refuse.</p><p>Villain-centric story with <b>no OCs.</b> More adult in tone than original series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Heaven and Earth

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place approximately two-and-a-half years after the episode "Titans Together," and two years after "When There's Trouble...", the final issue of the _Teen Titans Go!_ companion comic. It's mostly a focus on the day-to-day lives of the ex-H.I.V.E. characters and their associates, though more serious in tone than the original series to reflect changes of adolescence heading into adulthood. The Jump City Titans, Titans East, New Teen Titans, and miscellaneous villains are all liable to receive focus chapters. Yes, there will be an explanation for why Jinx left the Teen Titans and Kid Flash. No, it will not be given at the beginning of the story. Be patient.
> 
>  **All characters who appear are DC creations in some form or other,** whether from _Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!_ , or DC Comics and its spinoff franchises. For new/unfamiliar characters, I'll do my best to make a note at the bottom of each chapter providing a bit of info on their canon background. Geo-Force is not some guy I made up, and despite how the first chapter goes he's not the main character of the story. Same goes for Shimmer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Arc One, Prologue**  
>  **Title:** Heaven and Earth  
>  **Characters:** Geo-Force, Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, Jinx, Angel, Gizmo, Kyd Wykkyd, See-More, Billy Numerous, Mammoth, Shimmer  
>  **Summary:** A young man without any memories wakes up to find himself being hunted by the protectors of Jump City, and receives unexpected aid from another group "outside" the law.

"I don't know what you people want from me," Geo-Force threatened, backing away until his back was flat up against the wall of the building behind him, "but I swear, if you don't leave me alone right now _,_ I'll flatten all of you into the ground!"

For all his words, Geo-Force was far more frightened right now than angry. He could hardly tell if he was living in reality, or some kind of awful nightmare. He had no idea why his subconscious would do something like this, if it was the latter: his day had begun with a rude awakening in the streets of a noisy, crowded city he didn't recognize, devoid of memories and surrounded on all sides by strangers speaking American English. When he had groggily come to, he was half-buried uncomfortably in a pile of dirt and rocks, which provided no clue whatsoever as to how he had gotten there or who he even was.

When he tried to get up, and ask the surrounding onlookers for help or directions, they all began to scream and run away from him. The noise had given him a splitting headache, further worsening his bewildered mood. His mind was a tangled mess of dead ends that lead to nowhere and his body ached like he'd been savagely beaten. He didn't even know his own name, but a part of him could tell at once that this bizarre city wasn't meant to be his home.

That was when the strangers had arrived—the Titans, or so the group of costumed heroes had called themselves. There were five in all, most appearing to be around Geo-Force's age, if not younger. They called out to him like they knew him personally, using his moniker instead of a name, though perhaps it _was_ his name. All Geo-Force really knew for certain was that whoever these people were, they weren't happy with him.

And he didn't want to go anywhere with them if he could help it.

"Get away! GET AWAY from me!" Geo-Force screamed at the Titans bearing down on him, three on foot and the others flying by air. "I told you already, _I don't know_ what I'm doing here, or what these powers are! What the hell do you want?!"

"Please, friend Geo-Force!" one of the Titans called out pleadingly, an orange-skinned woman with fiery hair that had pelted Geo-Force earlier with green starbolts. "We only wish to talk!"

"I don't WANT to talk to you!" Geo-Force screamed, building hysteria clawing its way up his throat along with his boiling anger. "Just leave me alone!"

Beneath his feet, the ground began to tremble.

The leader of the Titans, an acrobat in a brightly colored costume, went pale underneath his mask. "Move! Get out of the way!" he shouted at the others, sprinting in the opposite direction from Geo-Force while the magnitude of the earthquake started to intensify.

The others began to disperse, but the youngest Titan—a green-skinned boy in hues of gray and purple—hesitated for a moment, before stepping back in the geokinetic's direction.

"At least tell us why!" Beast Boy shouted angrily. "How come you're attacking the city like this, Geo-Force? You're Terra's _brother!_ We thought you were one of the good guys!"

For some, inexplicable reason, his words made Geo-Force's panic rise up in full-force. His head pounded sharply in agony, and behind him, the walls of the building began to crack from the foundation upward.

"Don't come near me!" Geo-Force screamed in desperation, holding out his hands to call up a column of solid stone. "Whoever you people are, I don't know this city, and I _don't_ know any Terra! If you don't leave me alone, I'm going to kill you all! Just go!"

At this, he flung the slab forward, knocking it directly into the Titan's side. Beast Boy was sent flying with a yelp of pain, landing several yards away with the building with a noisy crash. His companions, already a good distance away at this point, turned around again at the sound of his yelling.

"Beast Boy!" the grey-skinned psychic called out urgently, running back for her teammate with her dark cloak flying behind her. "Beast Boy, are you all ri—"

Above them, chunks of the building began to fall from the sky, dropping down to the street below with an explosion of dust and noise. "Aaaugh!" Raven cried, throwing up a hand to defend herself and Beast Boy with a telekinetic shield.

Too much. There was too much noise. Too much energy. Geo-Force yelled in pain as his command over his powers began to slip, an unknown force within him unleashing itself powerfully into the deepest layers of the earth. He was out of control.

"Nooooo!" he screamed in anguish, losing his balance as the ground below began to twist and deform. Pillars of rock shot up in jagged formation to trap him in place, solidifying around his body to block his escape. The earthquake was now unstoppable, dust and stone flying in all directions as the terrible pain in his head blinded him completely. "Help me! Oh, god, please, somebody—"

The last thing he registered was the ground caving in beneath his feet to swallow him whole. New, unknown voices began to echo all around him, their words urgent and alarmed, but instead of listening Geo-Force sank gratefully into the merciful embrace of darkness. Oblivion was heaven, compared to the awful pain.

If it were up to him, he never would have woken up again.

* * *

However, wake up he eventually did. This time, it was to the sound of hushed voices:

_"So, let me get this straight...this guy wrecks half of downtown, and beats the Titans bare-handed by himself...and you guys have the bright idea to bring him_ _**here?** _ _"_

_"Yeah! What he said! 'Sides, I coulda done that myself..."_

The voices were talking about him, which was enough to rouse Geo-Force from his murky realm of half-sleep. Groggily, he registered that he'd been laid out on some kind of bed or sofa cushion, covered in blankets that were rather more scratchy than warm.

_"I hate'ta say it, but Billy's with the big man on this one. What's the point of havin' two guys around here just fer wreckin' stuff?"_

Geo-Force heard a girl's irritated sigh.

_"You're all completely missing the point. It'd be a total waste of talent for a guy_ _**this** _ _strong to be wasting away in a jail cell, while the Titans are out here hunting us like rabbits! What, should we have just left him there, to get killed or arrested?"_

_"Jinx is right. Plus, the guy is like, a total babe."_

_"SHIMMER!"_

_"What? He is!"_

The voices were quiet, even arguing, but even so the sounds of them worsened Geo-Force's dull, persistent headache through his fogged-up mind. He did his best to ignore them, and go back to sleep, but found it impossible now that he was relatively alert. Gentle fingers unexpectedly brushed his forehead, pushing strands of sweat-soaked hair out of his face, and that alone was enough to compel him to give up on sleeping.

Reluctantly, Geo-Force forced his bleary eyes open. He was greeted at once by the sight of two perfect, shimmering golden eyes boring into his, alit with impossible brightness and warmth. As his vision gradually solidified, he found himself gaping up into the face of the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen: a slim young lady with fair hair, curly blonde pinned back tightly against her head. She wore a blue and red sleeveless top with a high turtleneck, and a matching skirt, her pale arms bare save for a glimmer of silver bracelets upon her wrists and shoulders. When she saw that Geo-Force was awake, she smiled at him, perfect red lips parting only slightly.

"Good morning," she said to him pleasantly, drawing her delicate hand away from his face. She stood up, causing Geo-Force to belatedly notice a pair of small, white-feathered wings protruding from her back. His mouth hung open at the sight.

"Are you...Are you an angel?" Geo-Force blurted out stupidly, unable to close his eyes or look away from her.

The woman blinked at him in surprise. Then, her smile widened.

"Oh...so you've heard of me?"

Suddenly, there was a great commotion from the other room. "Hey!" a child's voice yelled, high and grating in Geo-Force's ears. "Yo, asswipes! Hurry up and get in here—the freakazoid's finally awake!"

Warily, Geo-Force sat up on his cot to see what was going on. As he watched, a group of unfamiliar adolescents and young adults began to file into the room, all of them in various states of casual dress and costume-wear, the latter type much like what the Titans and Geo-Force himself wore. Many of the group were young, in their late teens at the most, but a few seemed old enough to be legal adults. Something in the way they held themselves screamed out 'trouble,' but Geo-Force stubbornly scowled in their direction anyway.

"Who are you people?" he asked cautiously, not as panicked as he'd been the last time he woke up, but still a far cry from pleased at these turn of events. "Where am I?"

The teens only snickered at him. Feeling a rise in anger, Geo-Force opened his mouth to yell, but was stopped when the group suddenly parted to allow entrance to another figure into the room. The new arrival was so short that it took a moment for Geo-Force to actually see him, but when his eyes finally caught on the shrimp, he was surprised to find a young adolescent grinning up at him with the air of a person used to being in command.

The boy was short and scrawny, clearly youngest of the lot. He might have been thirteen at the oldest. His fine brown hair was cropped short, resting beneath a pair of lab safety goggles. He wore a dark jumpsuit strapped with a metal backpack, and had pale eyes that were lit brightly with a spark of intelligence and mischief. Despite his stature, Geo-Force could see that he was the leader of the group.

"Glad you could join us, rocky," the boy jeered at Geo-Force. "I'm Gizmo. These lame-brains behind me are the guys who rescued you from the Titans."

"More like rescued him from _himself_ ," another girl interjected from the front of the room. She was among the oldest-looking of the group, and one of its few females, petite and rail-thin with a shock of grey skin and bubblegum hair. "This guy caused a massive earthquake in downtown that wrecked a ton of buildings and caved in most of Main Street. If Wykkyd and I hadn't been out and about when the fight started, GF here would probably be lying in a shallow grave right now."

Geo-Force blinked. "GF?" he asked, before glancing down belatedly at the letter-emblem that was stylized on his chest. "I...oh. It's Geo-Force, actually. At least, I think it is..." At least, he couldn't remember being called anything else. "Thanks for earlier, I guess. I don't know what happened with my powers. I'm _pretty_ sure they usually don't go out of control like that."

The pink-haired girl gave him an appraising stare. "Well, then, 'Geo-Force'..." she said, stepping forward to stand beside Gizmo and gesturing to all the others gathered in the room. "If that's the case, then it's very nice to meet you. I'm Jinx, and these guys here are Gizmo, Mammoth, Shimmer, Billy—"

"I'm Billy Numerous!"

"— _See-More_ , Kyd Wykkyd, and Angel. Your resident nurse."

Belatedly, Geo-Force glanced over at the winged girl again, his face flushing involuntarily. She smiled at him with a small wave.

Jinx smiled as well. There was a smirk behind the expression, but also a measure of sincerity as well.

"On behalf of all of us, let me be the first to say that _any_ enemy of the Titans is a friend of ours," she said, lavender eyes gleaming catlike in the dim light. "Welcome to the Outsiders."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Character Notes**
> 
> [_Geo-Force_](http://s1030.photobucket.com/user/vintageconn/media/Teen%20Titans%20Go/TTG04_zps62889528.png.html) – Made one appearance in _Teen Titans Go!_ #51, "Metamorphosis." Older brother of Terra and crown prince of Markovia in Europe. Like his sister, he was experimented on to give him geokinetic powers during his childhood. He met the Teen Titans while traveling to Jump City to find out what had become of the runaway Terra, but decided to leave her in peace when he saw how happy she was as a schoolgirl.
> 
> _Shimmer_ – Did not appear in the show, but is a regular accomplice of Mammoth, Jinx, and Gizmo in DC Comics. Shimmer is Mammoth's twin sister, who has the power to transmute any substance into any other substance of her choosing.
> 
> _The Outsiders_ – A group of superhumans from DC Comics that has had multiple incarnations over the years. The group appearing in this story is only an adaptation by name, and does not reflect the roster(s) from the comics with the exception of Geo-Force.


	2. Silver Screen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Arc One, Chapter 1**  
>  **Title:** Silver Screen  
>  **Characters:** Jinx, Geo-Force, Shimmer, Mammoth, Gizmo, Billy Numerous, Angel, Kyd Wykkyd, See-More (mentioned), Paper (mentioned)  
>  **Summary:** The Outsiders hold a movie night.  
>  **Warnings:** Mentions of gore, religion, torture, brainwashing, and gruesome death, in the context of horror movies.

When Shimmer had first suggested they have a movie night, Jinx hadn't really cared one way or another. Things had been weird around the base lately, between Paper's conspicuous absence and the new guy they had found to replace her. Perhaps a bit of downtime would help everyone alleviate the tension. The latest addition to the Outsiders—the geokinetic, memory-less Geo-Force—was agreeable enough as a housemate, but he'd been having a slow time of settling into the group socially.

Given the others' collective disposition, Jinx couldn't blame him. But it didn't exactly help that the guy could be pretty uptight. When she had first seen Geo-Force causing mayhem in the streets against the Titans, she'd expected him to have a bad temper, or at least an aggressive streak. Instead, it turned out he was just _stiff,_ like the rocks he tossed around with his metahuman powers. The Outsiders were already getting bored of their newest teammate, which boded ill for Geo-Force's safety, and also that of the underground base. Experience dictated that bad things tended to happen whenever Jinx's cohorts got too bored.

So: they'd have a movie night. Perhaps using the big-screen TV wasn't the best idea, what with the base's power on reserve and See-More sick again with migraines unable to repower the generator. But at least it would give the rest of them something to do. Jinx even took the liberty of selecting a genre, horror, as the only other movies she liked were romance and the others would never let her live that down in a million years. She wasn't about to sit through five hours of bad comedy flicks or buddy cop shooters. Gizmo downloaded the torrents in high-quality, and they were set to go.

It might be nice, she thought, to have an evening where they were all safe and out of trouble.

* * *

The first flick of the night, _Wicked Scary III_ , was kiddie stuff, all cheesy Hollywood monsters and jump scares. Jinx and the others had a good time lampooning the movie's bad writing and CGI effects, which Gizmo claimed had only gotten worse with each successive sequel. The environment they'd made for themselves in the entertainment lounge was laid-back and fun—and, surprisingly, domestic.

The ratty long sofa in the room was gigantic enough to seat all eight of them with room to spare. However, Angel and Billy (and Billy's clones) opted instead for a lone armchair and various parts of the floor and sofa backing, respectively. Angel wasn't paying much attention to the film, curled up alone in her chair and reading a book, but every once in a while she'd glance up to see what was going on with the plot or with the others. Jinx appreciated her being there, knowing the younger girl didn't care much for genre movies that didn't try at all to be intelligent.

Billy, by contrast, was probably the only one of them who was wholly absorbed in the film: he jabbered loudly with his clones about various twists and developments in the plot, until the others finally shushed him out of annoyance. He laughed them off, but obediently shut up, at least until something else happened onscreen to make him forget his resolve. Then the cycle repeated itself.

As for Jinx: she had seated herself comfortably on the sofa, with Gizmo on her right side and Mammoth on the left. She felt content with the sense of familiarity they brought. It was almost like when the three of them were still a team, older memories from nearly four years ago.

Shimmer was nestled close to Mammoth's other side, curling up under one of his beefy arms with a bag of snacks. She was pretending not to jump in fright at every scream-bait sequence, without much success. Geo-Force sat beside her, likely for additional protection (Jinx had noticed he could be protective of the younger kids), while Kyd Wykkyd had perched a ways out from Gizmo and Jinx on the opposite end of the couch.

The movie passed easily in companionable jokes, and other senseless chatter. Even with See-More's conspicuous absence, Jinx didn't feel too bad for him, knowing Angel and Wykkyd had been alternating visits to the run-down infirmary all day. Hopefully, this latest migraine spell would work itself out like all the others. The Outsiders didn't have the money or resources to pay for See-More to see a metahuman doctor, let alone one that wouldn't try to steal his organs during a physical. The best option they had at the moment was Professor Chang, and Jinx wouldn't have trusted that creep to cut her fingernails.

No matter how much he purported to know about xenothium radiation.

When the credits rolled, Gizmo reluctantly stood up from the couch to start the next movie on his laptop. The computer was hooked up wirelessly to the flat screen mounted up against the wall.

"Your pick, cludgeheads," he announced. "We watching _Hellhouse_ next, or _Mindcreep?_ "

Jinx frowned. She'd only picked the genre of films they'd be watching, not the titles—that had been left to the discretion of Gizmo, Billy, and Shimmer. The latter knew so little about American movies that her input hardly mattered, but Gizmo's taste usually skewed toward whatever he thought would most impress the others. Billy's taste just sucked.

"Isn't _Hellhouse_ that really nasty slasher about the church psychos moving to a small town?" she asked. "Where they abduct a bunch of innocent people for their parish haunted house?"

"Yeah. And then carve 'em up for their freaky Halloween show," Gizmo said with a snigger. "This is the unrated version, too. They had to cut a _bunch_ of stuff to play it in theaters without getting an NC-17!"

"Sounds charming," Jinx said.

"Well, ah'm all for it!" Billy said, slapping his knee with a hoot of laughter. He turned to the clone sitting next to him on the floor. "How 'bout you, Billy?"

"Motherfuckin' psyched!"

Kyd Wykkyd smiled.

Jinx shook her head wordlessly, relaxing back against the couch. Gore-splatter films didn't hold much appeal for her, compared to the complexity of psychological thrillers, but if this was what the others wanted she wouldn't complain.

On the lone armchair, Angel stood up to face the others. She had closed her book and was holding it primly in both hands.

"I think I'll go back to my room for the night," she told them. "I'm not into very violent movies."

"Aw, you're just scared of all the blood and guts," Gizmo taunted, eliciting a crude laugh from Mammoth.

"Yeah, hah. You're _scared,_ " Mammoth said.

Shimmer hit her brother lightly on the arm for his comment. "Don't listen to them, Angel," she said earnestly, leaning forward on the couch. "Come on, stay and hang out with us!"

"You don't have to watch during the gory parts, if it grosses you out," Jinx offered.

Angel only shook her head. "It's the screaming I can't stand, not the blood," she said demurely, waving at them as she headed toward the hall. "You guys have fun."

Gizmo huffed. "Pussy!" he called out after her retreated back.

Geo-Force turned to glare at him for that, surprising everyone. "It's her decision. If she doesn't want to watch, then leave her alone," he snapped.

Gizmo scowled right back. "I was only kidding, fuckface!" he said hotly. "Stop taking everything so friggin' _seriously!_ "

If that wasn't an invitation to fight, Jinx didn't know what was. To her surprise, however, rather than retaliate, Geo-Force merely sighed in a world-weary sort of way and lay back against the couch. "Fine," he said wearily. "Sorry. Let's just start the movie, okay?"

Jinx had no idea what to make of his actions. Variations on this same scene had played out countless times since Geo-Force's arrival—not always with Gizmo as the instigator, but at least one of the Outsiders, making a game of baiting the older boy through their actions or words. Inevitably, he just conceded defeat, or else walked away from the perpetrator without fighting back. Geo-Force seemed wholly content to let the younger kids have their way, even at his own expense.

Jinx didn't understand his thought process at all. Geo-Force was the oldest, wasn't he? He had to be at least in his early twenties. Why on earth was he so willing to be pushed around by the others? Gizmo might have been the smartest one of the group, and (technically) the leader, but Jinx certainly wouldn't have taken his comments lying down.

Gizmo, it seemed, didn't know what to make of him either. The young genius huffed out something along the lines of "dick-licking snot piece," before ducking his head down to his laptop again and starting up the second movie. When it began to play, he flopped back down onto the couch beside Jinx and watched the opening credits of _Hellhouse_ in sullen silence. She absentmindedly looped an arm across the back of the back of the couch behind him and did the same.

* * *

The movie was every bit as senseless and violent as had Jinx expected. On top of that, Angel's departure, and the lateness of the hour, seemed to have quieted the atmosphere of the room about as much as the gore onscreen.

Every time Jinx tried to point out how stupid and unrealistic the plot was, or how obviously painted-on the blood, she was met with either the sound of Billy's uneasy laughter or a halfhearted answering joke from Gizmo. Even Mammoth would only give her a grunt of acknowledgement. The film was simply too dark to laugh away like the last one.

Instead, they watched in relative silence. One by one, the main characters found themselves dragged into the titular haunted house, either taken by force or else lured under false pretenses. They were all met with scene after scene of hideous physical and emotional torture and degradation. Jinx found herself feeling a little sick, as she watched a woman being impaled slowly through the stomach with the sharpened end of a cross. Her attacker was howling some bile about the woman not carrying her pregnancy to term, but Jinx didn't feel like anyone was listening to the dialogue. The movie had a running them regarding "sinners" in the town being forced to answer for their various misdeeds, but it was hard to pay attention to any of the plot when the graphic bloodbath onscreen consumed all the viewers' focus.

If there was one good thing to be said for _Hellhouse_ , it was that it ran barely eighty minutes on the clock even with the deleted scenes. Before Jinx knew it, the credits were rolling, over a black screen and a wash of total silence. Jinx could hardly contain her sigh of relief.

Around her, the remaining Outsiders slowly stirred to life again. "That movie _sucked_ ," Gizmo griped with forced irritation, pulling away from where he'd been inadvertently huddled at Jinx's side for the latter half of the film. He reached for his laptop and clicked the movie off with shaking hands. "I've seen better scripts written by frikkin' bacteria cultures! Hopefully _Mindcreep_ is less cludge-sluggin' enough to make up for it..."

Jinx watched him work, feeling an odd, unfamiliar sensation in her chest. Belatedly, it occurred her to that for all Gizmo's bratty posturing, intelligence, and foul mouth, he was still only twelve years old—and even that barely. No twelve-year-old needed to be watching movies where people got skinned alive, or nailed to the walls by their hands. If she had seen _Hellhouse_ at that age, the movie would have given her nightmares for a month.

However, once she realized she was reminiscing, she shook it off, stubbornly telling herself that she was overreacting. Gizmo was a genius, after all; that had to count for something when it came to a person's maturity. Plus, Gizmo was a villain! He'd grown up with bad guys and murderers, just like the ones in the movie. None so horrifyingly psychotic, of course, but it wasn't as though the crazy parishioners could come out of the screen and actually hurt anyone. It was only a stupid movie.

Maybe watching another movie was what they all needed now, to clear out the bad taste of the last one. "What's _Mindcreep_ about, Gizmo?" Jinx asked pointedly, careful to speak in the same unconcerned tone that he'd used. "I heard it got good reviews."

"Yeah, everyone says it's pretty good," Gizmo said, perhaps a bit too quickly, looking relieved to have something to talk about. "Even though it _was_ a total stink bomb at the box office. The movie's about a psycho-alien scuzzbag, who uses his psychic mind-powers to turn people into zombies so they can go out and take over the city for him. Apparently, he's trying to kill off all the humans on Earth, so that the aliens living on his home planet can come over here and take over ours instead, 'cuz their world is one big shithole."

Something prickled uncomfortably at the back of Jinx's thoughts as Gizmo spoke. _Psychic. Mind-powers. Zombies. Take over_.

She couldn't have said why, but something about the premise of the movie bothered her.

Out of the corner of one eye, she could see Kyd Wykkyd stiffen a bit as well, in his seat at the far end of the couch. The younger boy looked perturbed.

But, they were criminals. More importantly, they were teenagers. They all had their pride.

It was all too easy, for them to forget what pride inevitably came before.

"Sounds like fun," Jinx heard herself say, in the same forced tone of nonchalance. She leaned her back against the ratty couch to see the screen. "Let's watch."

* * *

It wasn't a mindless snuff film like the last one, but all the same, _Mindcreep_ was...unsettling. Jinx found herself fully engrossed by the titular alien, an unfeeling, psychic creature whose actions were every bit as impassive as they were terrifying. None of the alien's victims ever seemed to realize what was coming before it was too late, when they were already helplessly enthralled in its power. A gripping sense of déjà vu accompanied the mindcreep's every appearance, along with its psychic slaves, which inexplicably made Jinx feel as trapped and powerless as they were.

_Run_ , she found herself thinking more than once toward the characters onscreen, with the same almost-sick feeling rising in her stomach as before. _Run, you idiots! Why don't you run?_

She knew why, though. A person could run all they wanted, but it still wouldn't mean that they had escaped. Oftentimes, they just ended up in the same exact place that they started.

The bile in the pit of her stomach worked its way up her throat, vision tunneling more and more as the movie went on. She was too distracted by the shadows paralyzing her mind to notice Kyd Wykkyd spending most of the film hidden beneath his cloak, before finally ducking out and teleporting noiselessly out of the room. Some of the others remaining were even worse off than him.

" _Baran_ ," Shimmer whimpered softly to Mammoth, nervously twisting around one of the metal braces on her wrists. "Baran. Psst, _Baran.._."

Onscreen, the alien mindcreep began to advance toward a helpless and screaming human girl. When Mammoth said nothing, still caught up in the movie, Shimmer continued in a shivery voice, " _Baran,_ I don't...I don't like this movie. I want to go now. Please?"

Orders and insults, Mammoth could usually work with. Unfortunately for Shimmer, anything subtler than that required spelling out. He didn't even turn to look at her when she spoke.

"Wha's that?" he asked distractedly, eyes still glued to the screen as bits of popcorn fell absently from his mouth. "You say somethin', sis?"

"I want to go back to my room!"

"Oh..." Mammoth said indifferently with a shrug, still fixated on the film. "All right, then, go for it. I ain't stoppin' you."

He wasn't picking up on her hints in the slightest. Geo-Force, mercifully, was a tad quicker on the uptake.

"Mammoth," he said loudly to the larger metahuman, placing a hand gently on Shimmer's shoulder. "I think what Shimmer _means_ is—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence: at that exact moment, the base's power flickered crazily for several seconds, and then cut out. The entire hideout was plunged into darkness, movie ending before the mindcreep could destroy his final victim.

Startled by the sudden plunge into darkness, Shimmer screamed aloud. Her shrill voice was finally snapped Jinx out of her disturbed trance, jolting back from the film to the events of reality. Around her, the remaining Outsiders had begun immediately shouting and arguing among themselves, creating a din of panicked uproar that made her head ache. If the events of the film hadn't gotten them scared before, the unexpected power outage was certainly enough to finish the job.

Swearing internally, Jinx leapt up from the couch. _Dammit, See-More,_ she thought angrily to herself as she blindly grabbed for the nearest pair of arms, dragging the two teammates back before they could start running in the dark and get themselves hurt. _Could you have picked any other night to have a stupid headache?_

It wasn't really fair to blame him, though. Or Gizmo and Billy, for that matter, even if they'd been the one to choose the movies. Jinx _always_ had to be the one responsible for the others in the end—the one who knew how to keep her teammates from falling apart.

They'd all been indoctrinated since childhood, to defer to some higher power and obey orders from the person in charge, even at the cost of all sense of self-preservation. By a characteristic stroke of bad luck, Jinx alone had been struck by a damning self-awareness and ambition from an early age. She alone had the desire to be the leader of the pack, instead of a follower. The one the others would turn, to in times of peril.

That obviously didn't make her any good at it. She couldn't even get her teammates through one stupid movie night without something like this going wrong.

Just her luck, wasn't it? she reflected bitterly. Everywhere Jinx went, things were destined to fall apart.

_The Titans should have thanked me when I left._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Character Notes**  
> [ _Paper_](http://s1030.photobucket.com/user/vintageconn/media/Teen%20Titans%20Go/Paper_zpsce5b6f10.png.html) – A H.I.V.E. Academy student who appeared in _Teen Titans Go!_ issues #16 and #43, along with teammates Rock and Scissors. Paper is a metahuman with white hair and eyes, who has the ability to stretch/distort her body's shape like Madame Rouge.


	3. They Took the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Arc One, Chapter 2**  
>  **Title:** They Took the Sky  
>  **Characters:** Angel, Geo-Force, See-More, Gizmo, Jinx  
>  **Summary:** The Outsiders slowly set about repairing their power generator, and one another, in the aftermath of their badly ended movie night.  
>  **Warnings:** Anxiety, long-term illness.

They managed to get the base's power online again before long, though not without cost. Angel did her best to keep herself focused purely on the task at hand, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest as she supported See-More from one side, Geo-Force holding him on the other. All of See-More's nonexistent energy had been expended repowering the base's generator, and, judging from the way his body had gone weak and shaking in their hold, it was clear he didn't have any strength left to keep his legs from collapsing underneath him.

Angel tried hard to keep her breathing even, mind focused. It had been over an hour since the lights had been knocked out while she was reading in her room, startling her nearly as badly as the subsequent eruption of screaming that broke out on the first floor. It was time for Angel to be strong now, for See-More's sake, and for the others'. She wasn't going to be a child about this.

"Gawd..." See-More muttered weakly, voice barely audible over the awful racket the generator made as it was starting up again. "Y'all need to find another way to do this, Gizmo. I don't think I can't keep it up anymore."

Geo-Force gave the younger boy a sympathetic look, glancing over at Gizmo at the control panel. "Isn't there _any_ other way to keep this thing running?"

Gizmo, who was working frantically to stabilize the generator core, paused just long enough to shoot the rest of them a filthy glare. "Sure thing, rocks-for-brains," he snapped at Geo-Force. "Go out and find me another source of xenothium ions, and I can probably power this piece-of-shit generator for another whole year. Until then, we're just gonna have to keep making do with See-More's snot-fuckin' helmet and hope it doesn't kill him."

"Don't even joke about that," See-More moaned. "I really do feel like I'm dying."

The arguing, combined with the noise from the generator, was becoming too much. Having the lights back on had been a big help in steadying Angel's nerves, but between her, Geo-Force, See-More, Gizmo, and Jinx all being crammed together inside this tiny engineering closet, and the awful mechanical whining and groaning tearing through the air, she felt on the verge of an anxiety attack.

"Geo-Force, let's get him back to the infirmary," she said, as loudly as she could manage, nodding once to indicate See-More's weakened state. "...If you please."

Jinx nodded wordlessly, indicating they were free to leave. Together, Angel and Geo-Force carefully carted See-More from the room, moving slowly in order to avoid aggravating his migraine.

Out of the corner of one eye, Angel thought she saw Jinx place a hand on Gizmo's shoulder as they stood together by the generator. Then, the two were out of sight, leaving Angel and Geo-Force to steer See-More through dimly flickering hallways of their run-down base until they finally reached the shabby room that passed for the Outsiders' medical bay.

* * *

They laid See-More down on the shabby examiners' table, covered with sofa cushions in the absence of medical bedding. Having his weight off her shoulders helped enormously in easing the tension that gripped Angel by the chest, though the quiet was an even bigger relief. She walked over to the cabinets to retrieve some blankets and a pillow for him.

"Thank you for your help," she said softly to Geo-Force, glancing over at where the geokinetic stood by the bed. See-More had blacked out almost immediately after they'd removed his helmet, replacing it with a pair of black glasses, so all they could do for now was keep him comfortable. "Usually we ask Mammoth to do our heavy lifting, but he won't leave Shimmer's side after what happened tonight. Jinx said Billy went back to his room after the power went out as well. I suppose he must have gotten bored."

Geo-Force nodded at her with a tired smile. "Something like that," he said, yawning tiredly. "Billy said there was nothing else for it but to go to sleep, since there was no way to watch TV or see his way to the kitchen to get himself a drink. He made it sounds like this happens a lot, Angel. Is See-More going to be all right?"

Angel bit her lip, clasping her hands nervously in front of her. "He's always been fine before," she said evasively, still focused inwardly on her beating heart. "I don't know when the migraines started, but he's been having them since before I got here. A few months, at least. They come and go in spells, and he can't use his helmet without making the pain worse. But his helmet is what powers the generator...we're incredibly lucky to have him as a fuel source."

"Yeah." Geo-Force's smile faded, and he cast a concerned glance down at See-More on the bed. "So I've heard. You people have been using him as a living xenothium factory."

Angel's pulse quickened. "It was nothing he didn't agree to," she said immediately, trying to convey the urgency in her words without making them sound too defensive. "It's something his body produces naturally. Gizmo said—"

"Gizmo's a kid. You're _all_ kids."

Angel turned away from him, putting a hand over her chest. Her heartbeat just wouldn't slow down. The lights were back on, but she still felt trapped in the dark.

"I just turned eighteen, thank you very much," she said to Geo-Force, more sharply than she'd intended. "Our situation might seem difficult now, but trust me, we have everything under control. See-More will be fine. We're all going to fine, and we've all survived _much_ worse than a damn broken generator—"

"Angel—"

"—and it's not like there are any options _better_ without us having to end up in jail, or serving yet another _deceitful_ —"

" _Angel!_ "

The world went white; all Angel registered was a dizzy whirlwind of the floor spinning up to meet her. Geo-Force shouted something at her from across the room but the words didn't quite take, drowned by the sound of her own deafening heartbeat and the flashes of heat and ice wracking their way down her back.

"C-Claustrophobia," she gasped out painfully while the room spun and liquified around her. "I get this sometimes—when I remember we're living underground...I'm so sorry, I'm sorry."

"Angel, it's okay—"

"It's those damn _Titans_ ," she sobbed, burying her face in his shoulder as Geo-Force stroked her hair. "I hate this, I don't want to live like this, but there's nowhere else for people like us to go. They took the sky away. We stay here in the ground, and if we ever go outside it's because we're running, running to get something else or sell it back. I want to fly again."

"Angel, shh."

She cried and cried. Geo-Force held her, told her it was okay, that she was going to be fine, and eventually she felt him pick her up and carry her to the other cot. She felt ashamed of herself for acting like this, this but it was all right, too, because the fingers stroking through her hair were worn and calloused and she knew he understood how it felt when life ground you down and wore you to the bone.

Angel fell asleep with a smile and tears on her face, and a nagging thought; that someone ought to check in on Wykkyd tonight before he went to sleep.


End file.
